


Shielded Memories

by sk1726



Category: Arashi (Band), Johnny's Entertainment
Genre: Acceptance, Friendship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-25
Updated: 2016-09-25
Packaged: 2018-08-17 04:57:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8131264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sk1726/pseuds/sk1726
Summary: Ohno has stopped exchanging letters with Machida until one day he got a box from his dearly old friend.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written because I saw [this](https://twitter.com/sorori_k/status/779158204068487169) and [this](https://twitter.com/toro3104/status/779179022714417152). And realize that I ship OhMacchin because they happened to be real before Ohmiya exists. Also with my senpai's help I could post this fic. Yenchan senpai sankyuuu!!  
> I hope anyone who read it would enjoy :))

One, two, three, thirty, fifty, even until hundreds of letters were kept inside that wooden box. Ohno pondered whether to still keep it or just move it into his storage room, or even, burn it into ashes. Even though there wouldn’t be any traces of the letters physically, he surely wouldn't forget. His time had been spent well throughout those years. He had a great time during his youth and it couldn’t be ceased that easily only because it would become ashes. He couldn't just let his memories slip easily. Within those plenty of papers, his good times were hidden behind those spoiled words, joked phrases, and some hints of teased sentences. It was all giving him earnest feel he wouldn’t forget even until his last breath. It was his gratitude of him for having such pleased memories. If he didn't deny himself, he engraved those memories within his heart. 

He had stopped seeing Machida after the agency moved him to Tokyo. They didn't intend to lose contact to one another, though. They were sending letters eventually. At first, it was delivered dutifully once in a week. Yet as the days stretched, the gap grew naturally. It became once in a month, then gradually changed to once in three months and even once in three years. 

They quietly detached themselves because they knew they had more activities and also some priorities. At first, it was always works that were there. Machida understood how busy Ohno had become since he debuted. Although Machida said he was proud, a gleeful tone in one of his letter was somehow still tainted with a tense in his words. Ohno ever thought of apologizing, but he knew it wouldn’t make Machida pleased. Machida valued their friendship and it made Ohno trust him. 

Ohno moved forward and Machida left. An ugly truth Ohno barely accepted once he heard the news. It indeed slapped him on the face. He distinguished it as he broke their promise first and left. Ohno never expected he would be debuted, no one ever told him. He only heard the thing as ‘You’re going to dance in Hawaii.’ He told this to Machida and the boy supported him. After some years of Machida’s acceptance, Ohno still had in his heart that he wanted to leave and dance. Just like how his previous life led him. He only needed dance more than anything and Machida would just pat his back and said, ‘Let’s dance together.’

In their tranquility, they respected each other. Machida wanted to show that he was strong, meanwhile Ohno wanted to show he was sorry. None of them ever mentioned it out loud. They were so good to know what each other's feeling. That was why there was always no need for both of them to ever mention it. They would live their life well. They said, ‘life was never flat’.

The frequency of the letters being rarely sent gaped rapidly when Ohno started to date Nino. Ohno ever mentioned to Machida that there was a skinny boy who really caught his attention. Machida never asked as he was familiar with Ohno well. Machida, as a good friend he was, reinforced Ohno, hiding his pain neatly within his words. He knew his relationship with Ohno wasn't anything to call as passionate. Both of the boys understood by heart that they were special. Machida wasn't sure to name their relationship, but he knew he was close to Ohno. And it was sometimes something he might call ‘a greater friendship’. Ohno also realized that he and Machida were something attached. Even so Ohno veiled with sorry ever again as he left Machida further. 

After ten years, they stopped exchanging letter. The grown-up boys didn't seem to notice who started it first. Ohno felt difference. He was a clumsy boy since the beginning so he had no idea how to crack these awful feelings. Thus he stopped just that way and kept filling his days with the presence of Nino. 

Therefore, the next five years after the last letter coming, Ohno received a package. It was actually Nino, who accepted it from the courier when he was in one of his day-off. Nino didn't ask, he just shoved the box to Ohno without saying anything. Ohno internally thanked him for not asking him questions, because Ohno wasn't sure whether he could reply to Nino's curiosity without troubling himself to hide a thing. He didn't want to keep anything from Nino, yet he wasn't ready to spill his doing. One, he's sure Nino might have predicted from whom it was even without the need to ask, two, because Nino understood him well better than his mom, even better than Machida. Ohno shivered of the realization that Nino understood him well. It didn't frighten him, it’s just a bit worrying instead. He was afraid if he relied too much on the younger man. 

Ohno brought the box to his art room, languidly open the lid which needed him a cutter to slice apart the tight tape. Once Ohno succeeded, his lips created an upturned rainbow. Something gleeful fluttered in his chest. He would like to tell Nino his euphoria. Yet at the same time, he's afraid of Nino's refusal. What if Nino actually objected the idea? What if he felt insecure that Ohno would leave him and opt to go back to his previous life? Haunted by those thoughts, Ohno kept his beam for a little longer. At least until he's sure he could tell Nino everything, everything about him and Machida. 

In one evening, a week after the box arrived, Nino nudged to Ohno's side. His hands and attention were all into his DS. Ohno gently rubbed his rough palm on Nino's stretched leg. 

"You should go." Ohno furrowed his brows in confusion until Nino brought up the box topic. "He's in Tokyo, right? I'm sure he misses you. You shouldn't resist yourself. You're no one's prisoner." 

If people saw Ohno as an expressionless man, then all the assumptions were breaking down as he hugged Nino before ashamedly letting his tears fell onto Nino's shoulder. Nino only smiled, whispering words of encouragement as he made a circle on Ohno's back.

“Kazu.”

Ohno looked back at Nino’s smiling figure right in the genkan. He could see nothing but generosity. It was something Ohno valued during these years. To see the genuine of Nino’s true heart. He would never regret bonding his life with the man after him. Ohno made a step forward, launching his back to Nino’s stature. He gazed for a moment before laying a soft kiss right after Nino fluttered his eyes. “Thank you.”

“Just go already, old man.” There was a hint of proudness in Nino’s tone which Ohno caught perfectly. He would tell Machida that he had a good life and lived well as he had been in those youthful years.


End file.
